Ancient urn removed from sale may have been illegally dug up

Antiquities expert says Grecian vase at London gallery is identical to one linked to smuggler

- Dalya Alberge

A London antiquities dealer has withdrawn an ancient Greek amphora from sale after evidence arose that links it to a notorious smuggler.

The Kallos Gallery in Mayfair, London, has removed a black-figure amphora a jar with two handles and a narrow neck made around 550BC from sale after the Observer contacted it about concerns raised by an expert in the illegal trade of antiquities.

Dr Christos Tsirogiannis, an archaeologist and leading expert in looted antiquities and trafficking networks, found evidence that led him to conclude the amphora probably came from an illicit excavation in Italy.

He spotted the amphora when the gallery offered it last month at Tefaf Maastricht, one of the world's foremost art and antiques fairs, and matched it to a photograph that appears to show the same object in the hands of Giacomo Medici, who was convicted in Italy in 2004 of dealing in stolen artefacts. That photograph was part of an archive seized from him by police.

The Dutch police have been notified. The object's value is believed to be about £50,000.